This Is My Temporary Home

Have you heard the song This is My Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood? I've had it stuck in my head for the past six weeks.

Watch the music video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LraOiHUltak.

Wil and I bought our house before we were married. I remember spending a date night deep cleaning the house and dreaming about what life would be like together after we were married.

I wondered aloud what the walls of the home had seen and what the people who lived there before us had been like. Were they happy? Were the walls filled with laughter and love? (I think Wil probably thought I was crazy)

It's just a building - wood, nails and stucco - but home becomes such a part of who you are. A home sees your best and your worst, your happiest and your most heartbroken, your crazy busy weeks when all you do is blow through and your relaxing hang out on the couch moments you wish would last forever.

When we first moved into the three bedroom on Clara, it seemed huge! We rarely used half the house. But we soon filled it with sleepovers and pets and happiness. We worked on home improvement projects, decorated baby rooms with loving care and poured pieces of ourselves into our house. We brought babies home and filled it to the brim with swings, cribs, toys and books.

In August, my grandma's health suddenly got worse. I spoke with her Hospice nurse on Friday, the 16th about how she was doing. The nurse thought she was feeling poorly because she had tried to do too much that week, but mentioned that if this was the new normal, my grandma wouldn't be able to live by herself much longer.

Wil and I discussed the possibility of us moving in with my grandma briefly that evening, thinking it would be months down the road. (Our once too big house was now too small for my grandma to move in with us) Early Saturday morning I headed to youth conference for the day, and Sunday afternoon, we headed to my grandma's house for a going away dinner for Lynda who was headed back to school at the University of Arizona.

It was immediately apparent my grandma was not doing well at all when we got there and we decided we needed to speed up our plans to move in. Monday morning we began clearing space at my grandma's house and moved our beds and a few suitcases full of clothes and toiletries to my grandma's.

We were not physically, mentally or emotionally prepared to move, but you do what you have to do, and with a lot of help from our ward were able to get most of our things packed and moved in the coming weeks. Unpacking is another story...but I'm working on it...some days.

This is My Temporary Home played over and over in my mind as I packed our belongings and worked on making a new home for my little family. Soon, my grandma's house will feel like home. We'll fill it with laughter, love and new memories...and probably a few tears as well. Our old house will find a new family to fill its walls with the joy of daily living -- in fact, we're hoping to rent it out...if you know anyone looking ;-).

The song keeps playing in my mind, and the last verse makes me feel better about my grandma's declining health as well. This is her temporary home. I have faith that when she leaves this life, she will find peace and joy in the next. I have faith that this earth is the temporary home for all of us. That we will see each other again and that our families will be reunited for eternity.